Getting started in diaspora*

Part 2 – The interface

Note: if you are using a laptop or desktop computer, you will be viewing the diaspora* interface designed for larger screens. Click here for a guide to the desktop interface.

You’re now looking at an interface that might be unfamiliar to you. (If
you’re still on the edit profile page, click the pod name or Stream at
the left-hand end of the black header bar.) Let’s have a quick look at
the layout and start to get familiar with it.

Because of the decentralized and open-source nature of diaspora*, it is
possible for pod administrators to customize their pods. Therefore,
depending on which pod you’re on, the interface might look very slightly
different to how it’s described here. However, the essential elements
should all be present, even if they are arranged slightly differently.

At the top of the screen is the header bar, which always remains in
place, even when you scroll down the page. This header bar contains:

The stream

The “stream” is your home page in diaspora*. It aggregates all the
posts available to you. That is:

posts made by your contacts;

public posts made containing #tags you follow;

posts that @mention you;

posts from the “Community spotlight,” if your pod has enabled this
feature (see Part 7).

Posts in the stream are ordered according to the time of the original
post.

My activity

Your “My activity” stream shows any posts which you have either liked or
commented on. This is a useful way of catching up on any interactions
you’ve been having in diaspora*. Posts in this stream are ordered
according to the latest activity (comment or like) on each post.

@Mentions

This displays any posts made by other people @mentioning you. We’ll
discuss @mentions in Part 4.

My aspects

“My aspects” displays all posts made by all the people with whom you are
sharing – that is, the people you have placed into your aspects. Don’t
worry if you don’t know what an aspect is – we’re going to cover this in
detail in the next part.

Click on My aspects in the menu to see the list of your aspects. You can
view posts made to all aspects, or just to one or more individual
aspects, by selecting and deselecting them from the aspect list in the
menu.

#Followed tags

This view displays all available posts (public posts and limited posts
made to aspects you have been placed in) containing tags you follow.
We’ll look at tags in more detail in Part 5.

In this view you will see a list of your tags. Clicking on a tag in the
sidebar will take you to the stream for that tag. You can stop following
a tag by clicking the cross by its name in the sidebar.

Public activity

The public activity stream displays all public posts available to your
pod, even posts created by people you aren’t sharing with and which
don’t contain any tags you follow. That’s a lot of content!

Other views

There are other views available in diaspora*, which you can find by
clicking links.

Tag stream

Click on any #tag in diaspora* to take you to the “tag stream.” This
shows you a stream containing all the posts your pod knows about which
use that #tag.

Single-post view

Click on the timestamp on any post to view that post and any comments on
it in the “single-post view.” The timestamp is the link by the post
author’s name that reads something like “2 hours ago.” If you want to
send someone a link to a post in diaspora*, you can grab the post’s
direct URL from here.

Profile view

Clicking your name or profile image (your “avatar”) anywhere you see it
takes you to your profile page. This shows you all the posts you have
made in diaspora*. It also displays your profile photo, screen name,
“about me” tags and your “diaspora* ID (which looks like an email
address, starting with the user name you chose followed by the name of
your pod).

Click the Settings link in the drawer if you want to change any of your
profile information.

You can also view someone else’s profile page by clicking their name or
avatar. How much of a person’s profile information and posts are made
available to you depends on the type of sharing relationship they have
with you.

At the top right you’ll find an aspects button: if the person is not in
one of your aspects, it will read “Add contact;” if they are, it will be
green and show the name of the aspect you’ve placed them in. Click it to
add them to an aspect. If you are ignoring that person, the button will
be red and will read “Stop ignoring.”

Color themes

You can customise how diaspora* looks by choosing one of our color
themes from the Settings menu (see Part
7). The current themes are:

Original dark: this is the default diaspora* theme

Original white background: the default theme, but with a white
background. This looks more like the “old-school” diaspora*
interface

Dark green

Magenta

Egyptian blue

Your pod might have created some custom themes. If so, they’ll show up
in the list along with our default themes.

That’s all you need to know about the interface for now. The first thing
you will want to do is finding some people to start sharing with.
However, before we get to that, let’s focus on something that features
prominently throughout diaspora*: aspects.

Note: the rest of this tutorial series shows screenshots from the
desktop interface to illustrate the features in diaspora*. Some
features are not yet available in the mobile interface. When this is the
case, you’ll need to click Toggle mobile in the drawer in order to be
able to use this feature. We’re sure you’ll be able to work out where
the differences are – it’s not difficult!